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Don't really understand why someone who is familiar with math would use lowercase 'a' and 'd' - I do plenty of math for my major and I always kind of just use upper and lower case interchangeably.

I figure since they were using quadratics at the time, it had to do with variables (which should use lower case letters). I figure a math major will delve into more complex equations and such, but to my knowledge quadratics doesn't use upper case.

The implication of this episode was simply that since he's teaching highschool math he uses math notation for variables (lowercase x, y, z) and constants (lowercase a, b, c)... more-so if he's teaching polynomials where this is the standard convention. It's a bit silly since normally he'd just wrote down the class name as it's written on the plaque and not specifically convert the upper to lower case, but it makes for an easily solvable puzzle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SRanger

Don't really understand why someone who is familiar with math would use lowercase 'a' and 'd' - I do plenty of math for my major and I always kind of just use upper and lower case interchangeably.

I'm not sure what you do for your major but normally these are not really interchangeable. Plus, there are often specific concepts attached to the uppercase letters (A can be the area for instance, A=hw). Though I suppose this is more of an issue in physics, where pretty much every Latin and Greek letter, upper- AND lowercase, carries some specific meaning.

It was a hard decision but I gave this episode a nine, same as the last one, not because it's as...impressive, but for the fact that I was very entertained considering that nothing happened. (As far as I see, can't be sure nothing will be relevant.) The discussion itself and characters interaction is fun to watch, the accompany animation looks lively as always. On the other hand, I think the ragdoll in the explanation scene isn't appropriated. It's not bad, but not in the same standard as, say, the picture book in episode 3.

Other than that, I really like the seiyuus' performance in the Mayaka-is-angry scene. Both Mayaka's non-stop complaining and Eru's silent desperation to get Houtarou to help came out really well.

About the letter, while this is pushing it a little, him using lowercase isn't that surprising. We are talking about quadratic equation after all. I've never see anyone wrote that down using uppercase. And when you talked about it days after days, it's believable that you'll unconsciously use it in other place as well.

Another reason. Before the teacher entered the classroom, he accidentally dropped his wig as he was looking the class name plate. He might get embarrassed and rushed to get started causing him to mix the letters up.

This is probably worst episode of Hyouka so far. It wasn't offensive per usual (no exaggerated moe overload, to which I am still very thankful) but it was extremely boring. Took me an hour and half to finish the ep because I was more interested in browsing the internet than the episode. Absolutely nothing happened. 1/2 the episode was in the clubroom talking about... what the hell were they talking about, because I forgot already. And trying to find out why Chitanda got angry? How mundane can you get and if you got angry over something, how can you forget so easily?!

I do remember about 100 mini Chitanda's chirping "KIMI NI ARIMASU" though. Gave me a slight smirk, but that was the biggest reaction I had throughout the entire episode since it was SO BORING. No more of these episodes to the level that are this boring and slow please. At the very most, how Hyouka started (eps 1 + 2) were tolerable and at its peak it was pretty good (episode 5), but this episode ... one phrase sums it up:

This is probably worst episode of Hyouka so far. It wasn't offensive per usual (no exaggerated moe overload, to which I am still very thankful) but it was extremely boring. Took me an hour and half to finish the ep because I was more interested in browsing the internet than the episode. Absolutely nothing happened. 1/2 the episode was in the clubroom talking about... what the hell were they talking about, because I forgot already. And trying to find out why Chitanda got angry? How mundane can you get and if you got angry over something, how can you forget so easily?!

I do remember about 100 mini Chitanda's chirping "KIMI NI ARIMASU" though. Gave me a slight smirk, but that was the biggest reaction I had throughout the entire episode since it was SO BORING. No more of these episodes to the level that are this boring and slow please. At the very most, how Hyouka started (eps 1 + 2) were tolerable and at its peak it was pretty good (episode 5), but this episode ... one phrase sums it up:

I was saying to myself in this episode: Oreki, can I have your sense of imagination? it's too amazing :P

There may be no "real" mysteries this time around, but the mystery DID sound a bit interesting. Switching 'a' and 'd', to someone like me (ie, a Filipino who is SUPPOSED to spell a and d right, btw.), is... very probable, especially when your writing notes, writing "codes" that only you can decipher, only to find it being written in the wrong way..... circle, straight line down... ooops, the line was too long....

This series continues to grip on me, just like it did with Nichijou. :3

As a maths grad, if a class is called "1A", I will write it as "1A" and not "1a".

I'm so used to using A and a for different things, I won't even consider the possibility of switching them like this.

It's an answer that's perfectly plausible . . . for a high school freshman whose exposure to math ends with algebra. Which Houtarou Oreki is. It does start to sound kinda silly when you get deeper into math and you get lower-case letters, upper-case letters, upper-case+lower-case letters, and bloody Greek upper and lower case letters to represent things.

And, yes, the sensible way to distinguish classes would be to use upper-case letters. And, as long as you've got decent penmanship, lower-case letters should work too. Though, as a native English speaker who completed an engineering degree, I look at my old notes from college and frequently wonder "What the hell was I writing here?"

In the end, given all the HoutarouXEru shiptease in the episode, the solution may have been one crafted by Houtarou to give Eru a better explanation than "the math teacher's nuttier than a PayDay bar and needs his medication adjusted," which given the reactions of some of the students in Houtarou's class to the man's outburst, seems like it'd be just as big a factor as his sloppy handwriting, and his seeming view that his pupils are all interchangeable cogs in The Machine.

Their little discussion about anger was interesting.
Seems like it was all related to that incident during class.
Looks like it was just a case of teacher mixing up some notes.
Wonder why I'm even watching this since it's not that interesting.
Guess I'll drop it if it doesn't get more interesting.
The characters are nice, but the story is kinda so-so.

This really felt like a filler episode for me, but in fairness, it was excellent for a filler episode.

It really shows how KyoAni is the perfect fit for Hyouka. This episode probably would have bored me a bit if not for KyoAni's random bits of creative visual flourish (all the little Erus on Oreki, the nice color/gray contrast bit between Eru and Oreki, even the pencil-fiddling that really takes me back to my own days of using a pencil like that one in high school and college). But with those random visual bits added in, it kind of adds just enough color and spice to ease me through the duller portions of dialogue.

The dialogue itself is smart, in the sense that the conversations are reasonably intelligent and realistic (this sort of vaguely philosophical 'shooting the breeze' really is much like how teenagers often talk, at least going by my own experience as a teenager back in the 90s). However, there's a certain lethargic and almost too easygoing mood to the discussions causing them to lack a certain emotional engagement, imo (they do appeal intellectually, though, with a touch of wittiness here and there).

On a character-level, Mayaka is indeed starting to seem like a grump to me. Looks like Reckoner's assessment of her might be bang-on after all - She's a person that seems to often get angry, offended, jealous, and demanding. Not saying she's not justified here, but I do get that "nag" feeling from her.

Eru is as charming/comical as ever, though, so that's good.

Oreki and Satoshi are more or less the same as usual, which is fine.

Overall, I'll give this episode a 8/10. It would probably be a 6 or 7/10 if handled by a lesser animation studio, but KyoAni is great at turning 7s into 8s and 8s into 9s.

As a maths grad, if a class is called "1A", I will write it as "1A" and not "1a".

I'm so used to using A and a for different things, I won't even consider the possibility of switching them like this.

What you said given your circumstances make sense, but I think if you only dealed with high school math for so long that might change the habit. I know the first random variable I think of depends on which subject I'm most frequently dealing with at the time.

In the end, given all the HoutarouXEru shiptease in the episode, the solution may have been one crafted by Houtarou to give Eru a better explanation than "the math teacher's nuttier than a PayDay bar and needs his medication adjusted," which given the reactions of some of the students in Houtarou's class to the man's outburst, seems like it'd be just as big a factor as his sloppy handwriting, and his seeming view that his pupils are all interchangeable cogs in The Machine.

This. Houtaro is just giving an answer that fits what he thinks, and it might not be the truth. But it's an answer that satisfies Eru, who is not a person that wants to think bad of another person. In a sense, while it might NOT be the real answer, it is the most befitting answer to them, Eru especially in that situation.

And in a way, when that is the solution that Houtaro comes up with, then he is also subconsciously beginning to understands Eru's heart